Sustainable Indigenous housing in regional and remote Australia

Abstract

• For Indigenous housing to be sustainable, it should be safe and humane. It should support householders to enact healthy living practices and secure their wellbeing and be provided in the places Indigenous people prefer to live to meet different needs and purposes. • This requires a life-cycle approach to housing management, with appropriate levels of funding for planned and responsive repair and maintenance systems that attend to the functionality, quality and serviceability of a building, ensure safety, comply with statutory obligations, prioritise health hardware function, and protect householders from climate risks. • Repair and maintenance activities are an inevitable cost in the life cycle of a dwelling. Construction defects, wear and tear, ageing and environmental factors impact on building components. Planned maintenance programs are important for sustaining higher levels of house function across time. • Indigenous regional and remote communities will experience the negative impacts of climate change earlier and disproportionately, compared with most urban Australian settings. Funding for housing supply, design and maintenance must reflect this distribution of risk and higher cost. • Modelled in terms of various climate, occupancy, ventilation and other scenarios, the thermal performance of existing and improved Indigenous housing currently fails to ensure the health, safety and comfort of householders. • Addressing climate change in Indigenous housing and health policy is an urgent priority.